The woman who was sexually assaulted by Nicki Minaj’s husband, Kenneth Petty, as a teenager says she has been repeatedly harassed by Minaj, Petty, and their associates in an effort to get to recant her story.
In an extensive new report published by The Daily Beast, the woman (identified as Jennifer) detailed numerous incidents in which she was harassed, bribed, and/or intimidated.
In 1995, Petty was convicted of attempted rape in the first degree, and served four years in prison. A decade later, in 2006, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the shooting death of Lamont Robinson, and served seven years behind bars before being released in 2013.
The rape occurred in September 1994, when both Jennifer and Petty were 16 years old and living in South Jamaica, Queens. According to a complaint filed at the time, the victim had been walking to school when Petty came up behind her, pressing an object against her back and instructed her to “keep walking.” The two eventually arrived at Petty’s residence, where he allegedly forced her upstairs and began to rape her at knifepoint before she was able to strike him with a bottle and escape. Jennifer immediately reported the incident to her school and then went to a local hospital.
To this day, Petty maintains his innocence, saying he had only spoken to Jennifer that day and returned home to sleep. In court, Petty’s parents claimed that their son and Jennifer had been dating, which Jennifer said was untrue.
In 2019, Petty was arrested in California for failing to register as a sex offender. While the state’s charges against him were later dismissed, Petty is facing similar federal charges and is due in court later this year. Immediately following his arrest, Jennifer says she began to be pressured by associates of Minaj and Petty’s, who asked her to recant her allegations. At one point, Jennifer says, she even spoke with Minaj herself. Jennifer recalled telling Minaj, “Listen. I just need you to know, woman to woman, this really happened.”
Even after her conversation with Minaj, however, Jennifer told The Daily Beast that the harassment continued. A man from New York called Jennifer’s cousin to offer her $500,000 if she agreed to meet with Petty’s lawyer. Another man, identified as Barry, repeatedly contacted Jennifer asking her to write a letter recanting her allegations. When she refused, Barry allegedly parked outside of Jennifer’s house and offered her $20,000 to sign a letter he had written for her stating that she had lied about her assault. She again refused his overture.
Later, Jennifer and her family members began to receive threatening phone calls, and Jennifer’s daughter was approached by a man at a club. “It was scary, and it made me feel threatened,” Jennifer’s daughter told The Daily Beast. Jennifer and her family have also been harassed online by fans of Minaj’s. Concerned for her and her family’s safety, Jennifer has moved three times in the last year.
A friend of Jennifer’s, who actually tipped off authorities about Petty possessing a gun and failing to update his address, later contacted the US Marshals expressing concern for Jennifer’s well-being. Jennifer has since spoken to the US Marshal’s office, and an active investigation is ongoing, according to The Daily Beast.
You can read The Daily Beast’s full report here.
